


the darkest star

by AzhaLambrin



Series: Hold Me In The Stars (Star Wars: Reylo series) [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Abuse, Conflict, Dark Rey, Eventual Romance, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Bond theory, Major Character Undeath, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Psychological Torture, Reylo - Freeform, Romance, Snoke theory, Spoilers, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-23 03:34:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13181499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzhaLambrin/pseuds/AzhaLambrin
Summary: “I told you, foolish girl. You are mine. And you shall be the darkest star in the universe.”





	the darkest star

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheSunAndTheMoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSunAndTheMoon/gifts).



> "And if I told you everything, would you call me crazy?  
> 'Cause baby, I'm a dark stark, dark star..."
> 
> -Dark Star, Jaymes Young

Rey stared down at herself, clad in black robes.

Like stranded in a dream, she suddenly bolted awake—

And she was still there, inside an unidentifiable quarter of a First Order ship, wearing something Kylo Ren would wear.

 _Wait_ , she realized. _This_ is _his robe._

They were too big, and the rims pooled at her feet. Why was she wearing his military uniform? Why was she here? What happened?

She had no idea.

But then a voice answered her, the same one lurking in her dreams when the darkness comes. It sounded too familiar, too _alive_ …when it shouldn’t be.

 _Oh, my apprentice,_ it says mockingly. _You have much to learn._

Apprentice?

Her heart pounded in her chest. She knew who it was, who it _is_. He’s alive. Snoke is alive. And he’s _inside_ her.

As if that was the key to all her unreturned questions, she falls back on Jakku. The heat made her skin prickle, the sweat licking her every surface. The sun was high, and the wind was humid and harsh.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a figure. Like in her previous dream, it was Ben in his usual black robes—probably the same ones she was wearing now. But as it nears, she sees that it morphs, this image of a person she thought it was. The closer it gets, the more afraid she becomes, and when he was just a foot or two away from her, she knew why.

It was Snoke. It had always been Snoke.

In his voice, he mocks her as the words echoed across the vast dessert land of Jakku. “You’re still rooted to the things that will be your downfall.”

“It was you,” she murmurs quietly. “In my dreams, in the back of my mind…”

“Stupid child,” he says, laughing. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with. I told you then—I _cannot_ be betrayed.”

 _Does he mean Ben?_ Rey asked herself, the fear great but the probable heartbreak and disappointment even greater.

Snoke only laughed harder. “My former apprentice is _weak_! If he wasn’t then he would’ve been able to resist the pull of your light. But look at him now, trying desperately to save you.”

For just a fracture of a moment, Rey rejoiced, triumphant of this discovery. Ben was saved. Snoke can call him weak all he’d like but she knew that the Force would be stronger on his side now that he had turned. The Resistance has a chance—

 _The Resistance_ , she thinks now, seeing their faces flash in her mind.

“Ah, yes,” he croons devilishly. “You betrayed them.”

Rey remembers what she did, how she asked Ben for help afterwards, and the shame grew louder, singing in every cell in her body. She was wracked with guilt when she came back to her camp—and then anger when they held her, questioning her loyalty.

“Only that didn’t happen,” Snoke points out, laughing. “Do you imagine how deceived your precious Resistance must feel now? You have joined the Dark Side of your own volition, and because of that, no one can save you. You couldn’t resist it even if you wanted to.”

Snoke reaches out to probe her mind, returning her to the scene of her crime. In the clearing back in Corellia, she does meet Ben after she had erased her conversation with Poe Dameron and Leia out of their memories. But when she stumbled back into camp, there was no one. They didn’t jump on her, or hold her against her will. They didn’t force her to fight Ben. They didn’t doubt her, even when they should have.

And when the moment came for her to face Ben, she was alone until the last few moments. Finn had come running, screaming for her with the remaining members of the Resistance fighting off stormtroopers to try and get her back. But it was too late. She had succumbed to the Dark.

Everyone saw. Everyone saw how weak she was to be tempted by the darkness.

“No, no, no…”

“You cannot deny the true power of the Dark Side.”

 _No!_ She cried. She would fight. She would keep fighting. If Ben turned despite the influence Snoke had instilled in him for years then she could do that, too.

“We beat you once,” Rey said, mustering up all her courage. “We can do it again. You have no hold on Ben any longer.”

Unfazed, Snoke laughed louder. “ _We?_ What ‘we,’ foolish girl?”

The dessert shifted into night, pouring and muddy. It was another world. They were no longer in Jakku.

“You are alone. And you will always be alone,” he said.

And it was as if he was behind her whispering in her ear, he continued.

“You forget, pathetic child, I still have Kylo Ren where I want him—as long as I have you, I have _him_ , dangling by his neck. You might have shown him the light. But you will bring him back to the darkness, drag him if you have to.”

“I will not!”

“You have no voice in this, scavenger,” Snoke tells her. “You’ve chosen fear and anger. It tempted you and you let it overcome you. Now be ready to fulfill your destiny.”

“ _No_!”

Her training with Luke Skywalker returned to her. That day when he taught her about the Force, when the Dark first lured her into submission, he said it offered her something she needed. Rey will never forget the way Luke’s eyes looked at her coldly, disappointed on how she didn’t stop herself from diving into it. She may have had only a brief time to train and know the ways of the Force, but she knew that she had to give everything in this fight if she was to succeed. She will not let Snoke win, not again.

To choose the light, she must forgive herself for her shortcomings. Her sins were shameful, but they weren’t without reason. She knew that if she could reach out to the people she’d hurt, they would understand. All she needed was strength and immense control over her impulses.

_You’re mine now._

Snoke probes on her mind again, tapping into a forgotten memory on that day back in Takodana. The blaster’s safety was still on, but she aimed. When it didn’t come off, the first feeling inside of her was relief. But then the troopers spotted her and began taking shots. As soon as she turned off the safety, she fired.

The moment the trooper hit the ground, she realized what she had done. She had taken a life. Now, there was blood in her hands. But what followed was a moment where she didn’t care. They were creatures in a mask. They were fighting for the First Order. They were trying to kill her. She could kill them all if she had to. She wanted to kill Ben, too. It was easier then, because she couldn’t see the life behind it, the human hiding inside.

Rey wreathed in the feeling of freedom, the want to kill.

 _Yes_ , Snoke hisses. _Drown in your hatred, my apprentice…_

And then she sees his face when he first took off his mask. He had looked at her steadily after giving her what she wanted. She was afraid of him then. Meanwhile, he was disbelieving of her existence. He was hungry for power, and a self-fulfilling revenge. But she knew now that even then, Ben was lonely…just as she was. He was afraid, like she is now. He was trying to fill a hole after the pain had taken a part of him that he couldn’t replace. The mistake was that he wallowed in his hatred, his fear, his sorrow. All of this were milestones to the Dark Side. She had to refrain from taking the same path.

 _You know what you have to do,_ Ben told her. She didn’t understand him then, not really. She just thought that perhaps Ben wanted her to go back, to admit her faults—or the worse possibility was that he was trying to persuade her to the Dark Side. But now she truly knew.

She needed to kill Snoke. She needed to diminish his power over her, that seductive reel of the darkness. She had to resist it.

_Your mother was from Jabiim._

“What?”

 _Your mother_ , Snoke said, his voice the mere proof of his existence in this treacherous storm. _She was from Jabiim._

“Wait!”

_Rey._

It was another voice, calling to guide her. She knew him. It was her master.

“Luke?”

_Rey._

“Luke!”

_Resist it, Rey._

“Luke, what do I do?”

_Rey!_

 

She wakes up on the floor, the robe serving as a blanket.

 How much time had passed she doesn’t know. Her eyes were heavy from her tears and her body was tired. Had she resisted Snoke? Was Snoke even still alive? She couldn’t tell. As she tried to comprehend what had happened to her, she looks up. And her nightmare has barely begun. Snoke had materialized in front of her, grinning from ear to ear.

Rey screams in agony as Snoke uses his power to sift through her mind, removing anything unnecessary to her apprenticeship to the Dark Side. It was painful, like pulling skin from bone. And yet she couldn’t fight it. She felt too weak.

“I told you, foolish girl. You are mine. And you shall be the darkest star in the universe.”

**Author's Note:**

> Not the most REYLO of my work, I know.  
> But I needed you guys to understand where I put Rey (the real one) in.  
> Do you think Ben has a chance to help her overcome the powerful evil Snoke?
> 
> BTW I ALSO USED THIS PLOT TWIST BECAUSE IT'S ACTUALLY MY THEORY THAT SNOKE IS STILL ALIVE (being all powerful and all, in the first film anyway) AND ALSO COULD EXPLAIN WHY REY AND BEN ARE STILL CONNECTED. That or just, you know, Reylo. He could be lying about that Force bond so...that is my theory on that TLJ ending. KUDOS if you agree!


End file.
